Samsung is bolstering its efforts in the tablet market with two new offerings which JK Shin, CEO of Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Division, says are “setting the industry bar higher for the entire mobile industry.”

Besides the differences in screen size, the 8.4” model comes with a 4,900 mAh battery while the 12.5” model has a larger 7,900 mAh battery.

Both models are also thinner and lighter than their respectively iPad counterparts. The 10.5” Galaxy Tab S weighs 465g and is 6.6mm thick compared to 469g and 7.5mm for the iPad Air. Likewise, the 8.4” Galaxy Tab S weighs 294g and is 6.6mm thick compared to 331g and 7.5mm for the iPad mini with Retina Display.

The 8.4” and 10.5” Galaxy Tab S will be available next month starting at $399 and $499 respectively. Both will be available in Titanium Bronze or Dazzling White.

Some people here are just weird. This is probably Samsung's best tablet IMO. FINALLY the specs match the price they charge. And with that Sears deal, this is a no brainer. Too bad I have absolutely zero need for a tablet.

Man, you are really up it with Samsung aren't you? Whats the deal with that? You speak out against rabid fanboyism, but as soon as anyone doesn't like a Samsung move, you are all over it. Balance my friend. It's a product, not your momma I insulted. ;)

If you want a $500 tablet with 16gb, then YOU buy it. I personally think its a ripoff. The only other company that sells ram at prices like that is Apple.

"Anyway it has an SD slot, wtf is the problem here? You are NOT being limited to 16 gigs."

Check your tech. Kit Kat makes it next to impossible to install apps on SD. SD is great for storage and backups, but Apps cant go there anymore. Blame Google, fine, but 16gb isnt enough for a high end tablet, phone or anything anymore.

I have NEVER owned a mobile device where I actually had even close to 16gigs worth of apps installed. That is just...stupid.

quote: Man, you are really up it with Samsung aren't you? Whats the deal with that? You speak out against rabid fanboyism, but as soon as anyone doesn't like a Samsung move

Because I think this is a pretty impressive tablet? Wow umm ok...

As predicted, you posted a bunch of tablets that are *close*, but are lacking in one area or the other. Oh and good call with the cheap ass crappy Windows PC tablet with an 800p screen. I'm sure that's totally on par with these...just come on!

These are the MOST complete Android tablets we've ever seen. Period. That doesn't mean they are perfect, but we've never had an Android tablet before so close to being the complete package.

And all you can do is nitpick it on ONE thing.

Sorry but I really feel I'm the one being more balanced here. As soon as a Samsung article is posted, you go right in with the "Sambloat" and the negativity. It's pretty clear YOU are biased.

And you know what, if EVERYONE else was throwing huge storage sizes on mobile devices, and Samsung wasn't, you would have a point. Unfortunately the fact that this is the norm, not the exception, renders your complaints moot.

At least Samsung gives us SD options, and you can't even take that into consideration.

Face it, you're a "hater". Still love ya, but yeah, you're just coming off like a hater.

"I have NEVER owned a mobile device where I actually had even close to 16gigs worth of apps installed. That is just...stupid."

A normal spread of apps + 2-3 large games will do it easily. It's just not enough anymore.

"These are the MOST complete Android tablets we've ever seen. Period. That doesn't mean they are perfect, but we've never had an Android tablet before so close to being the complete package. And all you can do is nitpick it on ONE thing."

Consider that a compliment. But technically 2 things... the RAM (at that price) and Sambloat. =)

"you go right in with the "Sambloat" and the negativity."

Well, until it goes away, the bloat is an issue and that is a big negative. We thought (you and I even discussed it here) that the Galaxy S5 and new devices would be better, and we have all seen the videos where the lowly Moto E dual core 1.2ghz CPU runs everything faster than the mighty Snap801 quad core at 2.5 ghz on the S5. Samsung hasnt got the message.

Also, Sambloat :P

"Face it, you're a "hater". Still love ya, but yeah, you're just coming off like a hater."

Well I can see you aren't interested in a serious discussion or even a fair one.

quote: and we have all seen the videos where the lowly Moto E dual core 1.2ghz CPU runs everything faster than the mighty Snap801 quad core at 2.5 ghz on the S5.

I would like to see those videos then, with a COMPLETE breakdown of the methodology and using scientific testing conditions.

Because that sounds literally impossible. That's just BS or there's some explanation for why that would be the case. Even "bloat" wouldn't allow such a vastly more powerful device to be outclassed by a budget phone.

No offense but you sound like Android hating Appletards with that kind of hyperbole of an argument.

quote: Samsung hasnt got the message.

Yeah if only Samsung listened to you, then they could finally sell more phones than HTC or Motorola...

"Anandtech scientifically tests everything in a controlled environment using EXACTING standards to ensure a fair and impartial result"

Dood, Anandtech has been my home page for literally 16 years now. I seee it I use it I enjoy it, but they are not infallible. The lag exists, i KNOW it exists I have seen it myself on many devices as has everyone else who has done testing on Samsung units . Do you think I made up the term "Sambloat"? FFS, I dont need to prove it to you, everyone already knows it.

Go to NAND performance. The S5 is lagging behind big time on random read and writes. Which we all know from SSD's, impact visible performance far more than sequential. No question, that needs to be fixed.

So we're not seeing "Sambloat", we're see poor I/O causing the UI to appear laggy and stuttery in some use-cases.

So I dunno, sorry that a few minutes of research invalidates your entire theory.

"So we're not seeing "Sambloat", we're see poor I/O causing the UI to appear laggy and stuttery in some use-cases."

Now that I think about it this does make sense... It goes away when you remove the bloat, but flash's issue on the old file system especially is always random read/write i/o. That would make sense why it is slow and why it goes away when you remove the bloat... It also explains why its not always bad, but often...

Still, no matter how you look at that it's a piss poor design and leads to a laggy product. There is no way to say it other than poor choices made by Samsungs s/w teams either way.

No, it doesnt... It's not a benchmark issue, it needs a more tactile test. This is how to test.

1. Get a Samsung phone and a few others, like a Moto E, X, or an LG G2, One M8, anything non-Samsung.

2. Launch app - chrome is a good one - launches faster on all non-Samsung phones.3. Load a web page and scroll up and down. Note the chop.4. Transitions, just going from homepage to homepage can chop out on a Samsung phone.5. Now root your Samsung phone, and disable the Samsung bloat. BOOM, fast as hell now.

I have done this myself on many friends and family phones. I kid you not. Whatever the issue is, it goes away when you disable the Samsung and carrier apps, and then your Samsung phone shines. The point is you shouldnt have to root it to get it operating at a a normal speed.

Look, the S5 is better than previous (the S4 and Note 3 were the "bloatpeak", but its still there to a lesser extent. There is nothing you can say or link that changes that.

I am amazed at Reclaimer77's insistence that Sambloat is a godsend to Android. I've seen Sambloat in action, and using it is like playing multiplayer FPS with a satellite internet connection - it's doable, but it's not enjoyable, because the lag really sucks.

My S4 must be rooted on Day 1 just so I can get rid of Sambloat and its world-famous lag issues. I shouldn't have to do that to get a good user experience out of my phone, for crying out loud. If I'm less technically inclined, I'd think all Samsung Android-powered devices are horrible because of Sambloat, and seek other alternatives.

"I am amazed at Reclaimer77's insistence that Sambloat is a godsend to Android."

I don't think he was saying that it was a godsend, he seems to think it isn't that much of an issue - Which I wholly disagree. It is. It is bad and it gives the whole Android platform a bad impression. I havent sen an S5 in person other than thse videos where a lowly Moto E outpaces it in the UI and scrolling, but I have seen several Note 3's one of which I used extensively, and even it lags like crazy -much worse than the S5 in the videos. Even just launching a single app like chrome there is an extremely noticeable delay.

"Well I can see you aren't interested in a serious discussion or even a fair one."

Not at all true... Let's go then.

"I would like to see those videos then, with a COMPLETE breakdown of the methodology and using scientific testing conditions"

The link is below, but you can Google it for other tests as well. They don't get into the methodology, just a fresh boot and running side by side... Not much to it, I am sure its not faster running a GPU benchmark, it's just timing the UI, scrolling and transitions (the areas where ALL Samsung phones lag).

I can tell you from first hand experience with S3, S4, Note2, Note3. They are all bloated as hell and can really run slow at times. Comparing the stock LGG2 to the stock Note 3 (Same exact CPU, res, and RAM) is like night and day with speed. EVERYTHING launches faster, scrolls faster, every single transition is smoother. Even the old S3 when debloated runs everything faster than stock Note3. I know you don't want to admit it, but I am telling you, it's a huge difference. Android itself doesn't need much speed, and that is why the Moto E runs so well. It's ALL about the bloat .

What do you have now? I know you had an S2 years ago. Have you used a recent Samsung device for any extended amount of time?

quote: I have NEVER owned a mobile device where I actually had even close to 16gigs worth of apps installed. That is just...stupid.

Apps on Android are terrible so I understand why you wouldn't need much storage.

The whole argument doesn't matter though. SD cards are only good for media. They're way too slow for apps and Google doesn't really support them anyway. The policy changes in KitKat are just the beginning.

Do you have anything other than apps? You bring it in to every conversation. We are talking about memory and if 16gb is enough, and you come out of left field with a rediculous comment about apps. It just looks trollish. Surely you can admit that right?

Stability, security, support, performance, those are all things too. You really want to get into another discussion about where else Android is lagging?

And obviously apps matter in a discussion about memory. 16GB is obviously not enough for any device. It should be 32GB minimum internal storage by now, but if you don't really use apps, and most Android users don't, then it doesn't really matter. Expansion doesn't solve this since it's only good for media and Google is depreciating support as we speak.

"16GB is obviously not enough for any device. It should be 32GB minimum internal storage by now"

That is exactly what I was saying this whole time, and that is what this thread was about. You just came out of left field with "Android apps suck" which is A) off topic and B) Your personal (and incorrect) soapbox rant.

Google also tried to eliminate the menu button on Android, Samsung decided it was staying for a while.

See, it doesn't matter what Google wants to do with SD card support. Samsung is free to take Android and extend that support for as long as they see fit, and there's nothing Google or anyone else can do about it.

quote: Replace local storage with one that requires an active, bandwidth-limited connection to be any useful? You make me laugh.

That's how tablets have worked since day one, hello? Ever heard of YouTube or Netflix?? Or do you sit there and try watching everything from media files? Knowing you, probably the latter.

Now I'm not saying more storage wouldn't be great, sure I would love as much storage as I can get. But in a typical use-case for the majority of people it just doesn't matter for a tablet.

And you can call me an Samsung fanboi all you want. That doesn't change the fact that these are the best Android tablets currently available on the market. That doesn't mean I think they are PERFECT. But it's just a fact, sorry you don't like it.

quote: That's how tablets have worked since day one, hello? Ever heard of YouTube or Netflix?? Or do you sit there and try watching everything from media files? Knowing you, probably the latter.

And exactly why is that such a bad thing? Oh right, your eyeballs are too glued to Google to notice that the cloud is no substitute to local storage.

quote: Now I'm not saying more storage wouldn't be great, sure I would love as much storage as I can get. But in a typical use-case for the majority of people it just doesn't matter for a tablet.

The typical use case of tablets for the majority of people revolves around games. 16GB is too little. On a tablet where Sambloat eats more than a gigabyte of the 14.3GB total available internal storage space, that's a lot.

quote: And you can call me an Samsung fanboi all you want. That doesn't change the fact that these are the best Android tablets currently available on the market. That doesn't mean I think they are PERFECT.

Way to contradict yourself in the same paragraph, and that third sentence does nothing to hide your unquestioned worship of Samsung.

You have a problem with tonyswash and Nortel drowning themselves in Apple Kool-Aid. Yet you start circling wagons and call others "retards" when they point out how you're being a hypocrite with your overzealous promotion of everything Samsung/Google. You treat every dissenting comment as a personal attack, and you have less grace than Tim Cook when it comes to knowing when to legitimately tell someone to pound sand.

It is "only" 8" 1080p display, but it has decent CPU, plenty of storage, USB port... and I'm finding my current Windows tablet so much more useful than my current Android tablet, so there's that. Works flawlessly in my home network, access to printers, scanner, file shares... cloud is fine, but price of internet access in many hotels (and lack of quality) is a turn-down for me when away from home. And at home, lan is so much more convenient than cloud - if you have capacity.